Project: DE-risking Exploration of geothermal Plays in magmatic Environments (DEEPEN)
Initiative: GEOTHERMICA
Project Lead: National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR)
Project Sub: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
Project Timeline: January 11, 2021 – October 31, 2025
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s DE-risking Exploration of geothermal Plays in magmatic Environments (DEEPEN) project united academic and industrial expertise to advance geothermal energy drilling systems into superhot rock. The project aimed to achieve this through improved exploration methods and a framework for interpreting exploration data to increase the success rate of drilling for geothermal fluids in magmatic systems.
During the project, NLR and LBNL ranked and analyzed existing geoscientific methods, developed and validated new geophysical and geochemical methods, and created a Play Fairway Analysis methodology for interpreting exploration data in magmatic settings. The team then applied the methodology to two magmatic systems: Hengill Volcano in Iceland, and Newberry Volcano in Oregon.
Office of Geothermal (OG)-funded work on DEEPEN is part of the GEOTHERMICA initiative. GEOTHERMICA is a multi-national consortium that combines know-how and research expertise to demonstrate and validate emerging concepts to strengthen the geothermal energy sector.
Learn more about OG’s work in geothermal electricity generation from hydrothermal resources and enhanced geothermal systems.
More about DEEPEN:
- Peer Review of the DEEPEN project (OG’s 2022 Peer Review report)
- DErisking Exploration for geothermal Plays in magmatic Environments – Results and Perspectives from the DEEPEN Project (Conference Paper, Geothermal Rising Conference 2023)
- DEEPEN: DErisking Exploration for Geothermal Plays in Magmatic ENvironments: Cooperative Research and Development CRADA Final Report (Technical Report, 2025)